Question
I am a 25 year old male active in yoga/pilates/sports/etc. I woke up in the
middle of the night last october with sharp shooting pain on the left side of
my chest, at the time I believed I was having a heart attack. I went to the
doctor and it was determined that I had Pleurisy. I took some medicine and
started to feel better, however about a couple weeks later my back and chest
started to hurt again so I went back to the doctor, he informed me that I was
probably  sleeping on my neck wrong or something of that caliber, he wanted
to take e-rays just to be on the safe side. The results apparently came back
negative and the pain has come and gone ever since. It is now January and I
have a constant knot on the upper left side of my back that shoots all the
through to my chest and down my arm. It is not unbearable pain, but has
been persistent ever since the first time I saw a doctor. I am pretty sure it is a
muscle pinching a nerve, but I am honestly not completely sure. I feel can
press on my shoulder sometimes and it is almost to hard to bare. I am really
not sure what step to take next??????? How can I solve this problem?  

Answer
What kind of doctor read your x-rays?  It sure sounds like you have a subluxation around C7-T2 area, and I would bet on T2.  This one seems to defy logic by sending pain down the arm somtimes.  Also, when this one goes out, it often takes the rib with it, which can easly feel like a heart attack. Have you seen a chiropractor?  This seems like your next logical step.

Good luck,

Dr. P